Castaway Cay ... Best Time to Visit

[switch15foot]

Starting to look into taking my first Disney Cruise!! Visiting Castaway Cay is a priority. Recommendations for best time to cruise.

A little bit of background. It will be two adults, no children. We love Disney. Have already experienced two other cruises; Oasis of the Seas and European Viking Cruise.

 

[MUN]

Starting to look into taking my first Disney Cruise!! Visiting Castaway Cay is a priority. Recommendations for best time to cruise.

A little bit of background. It will be two adults, no children. We love Disney. Have already experienced two other cruises; Oasis of the Seas and European Viking Cruise.

Late October is the best time to cruise for you. The water should still be warm, hurricane season is mostly done, and the rates should be lower as kids should be in school.

 

[Minnie - Not the Mouse]

We did our first cruise mid-November, the weather was fabulous. We did our second the end of Jan and it was cold when we left Miami but wonderfully tropical the rest of the trip (water at Castaway Cay was beautifully warm).

 

[Shanti]

Starting to look into taking my first Disney Cruise!! Visiting Castaway Cay is a priority. Recommendations for best time to cruise.

A little bit of background. It will be two adults, no children. We love Disney. Have already experienced two other cruises; Oasis of the Seas and European Viking Cruise.

We've had three great experiences the past three years visiting in late December. It's the beginning of the Bahamas' dry season, so we've never been rained on there, it was never too windy, and the air temps were idyllic, warm but not hot, so you could enjoy land activities as much as water activities. The ocean water is chilly at that time, but your body will quickly adjust to it. And because the air is nice and warm, it feels good getting out of the water, too.

Late October is the best time to cruise for you. The water should still be warm, hurricane season is mostly done, and the rates should be lower as kids should be in school.

Kids will be at Castaway Cay year-round. OP, don't book any Bahamian Disney cruise at a certain time of year expecting few kids to be there, as a lot of parents these days don't hesitate to pull them from school for trips. October features the Halloween on the High Seas cruises, which are themed to Halloween, and the average adult couple might find them a bit juvenile.

October is also part of high hurricane season, so be careful of that, as well. Hurricane season is the reason why September and October rates for Bahamian/Caribbean cruises are lower than average.

 

[Dug720]

Just be aware that currents and other conditions CAN and sometimes DOES prevent docking at Castaway. The captain will try everything possible to be able to dock, but sometimes it is just not safe. The same is true for any port. if the conditions do not allow safe docking or tendering, it isn't going to happen.

All that is to say I would never book a cruise solely for any one port stop.

 

[disneyholic family]

if castaway cay is important, perhaps you should look for one of the cruises that double dips into castaway cay....however, i think they tend to be shorter cruises....possibly only 5 days...

 

[daisyx3]

You need to be prepared to not have CC as an option. We cruised the Dream the last week of March in 2016. Our CC day started out cloudy, we did the 5K and then went to the adult only beach (we'd never been) and they said it was closed due to weather coming....then the monsoon hit. Two hours huddled in the dining area with the wind blowing sideways rain in. Shops closed. CMs running out trays of food so at least we didn't starve. Slogged back to the boat with the trams going through puddles up to the wheels. Took hot showers back in the room because we were shivering. Went back about 90 minutes before we had to be back on board we were able to go and at least step in the ocean and say we did! We have video of thunder and lightening and terrible rain. We had not been on DCL since 2004 so we were really, really disappointed, but what can you do?

 

[Shanti]

Mid-January through mid-March is the windiest time of year in the Bahamas. Avoid sailing then if your primary purpose is to visit Castaway Cay, as that is when most of the occasional "missed-docking" days occur at Castaway Cay.

 

[switch15foot]

thanks for all the recommendations!

I'm thinking a halloween (late October) or christmas cruise (late November/early December)

 

[Stacieseestheworld]

I would suggest not going in September as it's peak hurricane season. We lucked out this past year and they rerouted our itinerary to allow us to still go to Castaway Cay, but our cruise was still shortened overall. In fact, we had to return to Castaway Cay the next day to evacuate the staff.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

thanks for all the recommendations!

I'm thinking a halloween (late October) or christmas cruise (late November/early December)

Disney does a great job decorating for each holiday but of the two; I would choose late November/early December. DCL ships are beautiful when decorated for Christmas.

The water will be cooler at Castaway Cay in December but once we started moving around it didn't take long to acclimate to it. As others have posted, weather can keep the ship from docking at CC. We have cruised 7 times with DCL and it did happen to us once, in 2011 on the Wonder; west bound Panama Canal cruise. The captain made several attempts but the cross wind won. It was blowing directly across the ship pushing the ship towards the pier. The waves were impressive crashing into the breakwater.

 

[professorandmom]

I've been several times in July when it was incredibly warm - so, some activities, like biking, seemed less attractive...in contrast, I've also visited in the winter...so, biking has been such a pleasure as my visits have had incredible weather. Although the captain announced how lucky we were during one December Wonder cruise because another Disney ship had faced terrible weather and had been unable to dock the day before...

So some of the answer to your question depends on what you want to do...for example, during a July visit my son rented a kayak and LOVED it...so my perception of heat - and desire to enjoy a cold beverage in the shade- didn't reflect his interest in "doing something"